Seagate has announced that it is to acquire a controlling interest in premium storage company LaCie. Seagate has agreed to purchase all the shares held by Philippe Spruch, chairman and CEO of LaCie. That equates to 64.5% of the total shares, giving Seagate control over the future direction of the company. The remaining shares will be purchased for cash once the deal has received government approval.

The acquisition is an intelligent move for Seagate, who inherits a premium line of storage products including network-connected solutions. It will allow them to continue to offer the LaCie brand and hardware lines as complimentary products to its existing range. There is currently very little overlap, which is likely what made the deal so tempting. From LaCie’s point of view, it was an opportunity to secure the brand’s future by joining a much bigger player in the storage business.

The main focus of the acquisition will be the hardware and brand, but Seagate also takes control of the Wuala cloud storage service, potentially opening the way for it to be incorporated into Seagate’s existing range of products.

Owners of existing LaCie products shouldn’t be concerned as it looks as though the company will continue to operate as normal for the time being. Seagate may even choose to keep it as a separate entity, although using Seagate parts. I’m sure some LaCie hardware users are hoping for improvements though, especially after the debacle over the major design flaw discovered in the LaCie Hard Disk MAX earlier this year.